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- Bring this all the time. I don't think I need to explain why ; easy escape, engage, and absolutely necassary on a less mobile champ like Cassi.

Exhaust is what I mostly TOOK on midlane. It has everything what you need: less damage output from your enemy and a slow for disengage, or less resistances to go all in on your laner.

Really helpful to have an (extra) exhaust in teamfights as well.

Take this against assassins or burst, like zed or syndra.

Bring Teleport if you find it hard to stay with less mana, and if you have an opponent that pushes you quite hard in the midlane.

When playing top, I take this 99% of the time. Mostly used for quick recall and a tear, or to create some clown fiesta's on the botlane.

Both of these might be helpful if you don't like exhaust in the midlane. Take cleanse against heavy cc teams (like an ahri and an amumu jungle for example), or ghost if you think that you can survive a long, sustained teamfight. I don't really use these a lot, because I prefer exhaust on Cassi.

Ghost is good if you go dft and need mobility, but I run ms quints and stormraiders, so I like the duelling potential with exhaust more.

TL;DR: It all depends on your playstyle and enemy team, if you feel like you're gonna need an exhaust, take it. Ghost is good against champions with only one ability to stop you from chasing (Viktor, twisted fate,...)

Expose weakness: I like using this for the mid-late. It provides your team a lot more damage, because you can block an entire path with your w.

>>> Other options here: both DES and Feast are good on Cassi. DES is a risk-reward thing, because you'll be more vulnerable in the early. Feast can be used when you are against a heavy poker.

Vampirism: The 2% spell vamp looks like it's nothing, but since you heal with your E when the target is poisoned, it really adds up. And the +15 AP AT LEVEL 18 is peanuts compared to the healing you'll be doing from this.

Oppressor: You'll be slowing them with your w and later on with rylai's, so you can get this extra damage everytime.

CUNNING

Wanderer: good for roaming, and going back to lane overall. Scales with the ms quints as well, so if your team manages to get some cloud drakes, this snake is gonna be quick.

Assasin: I WAS a user of biscuits on Cassi, but when I started playing more top, you realize that assasin adds up to your damage. Even in the midlane.

Merciless: Good for champions that participate in sustained damage fights - like you. More free damage! Only reason to take meditate is when you're starting on Cassi and don't know how and when to spend your mana.

Dangerous game: Good for sustained damage dealers again ; this has saved my life in 3v4's etc where I really needed that health back to make them retreat/lose a fight.

Precision: Since we can't build boots on her anymore, you'll lose some mpen. This will be very helpful. You'll be having a bit cdr in the early from the scaling cdr runes either way.

Stormraiders surge: One of the most underrated masteries atm because it doesn't fit a lot of champs. It does on cass though, and I only go for thunderlords when I'm looking to snowball hard in lane against easy enemy laners.

Note: You can also go 18/0/12 (dft)or 0/18/12 with the extra spellvamp, which suits Cassi's kit well. You should opt for the 18/0/12 when you're gonna go a more tankier/sustain build (with spirit visage etc)

The scaling movement speed per level. It feels good to have an extra slot for boots ;)

The thing you'll be wanting to hit before you can go. When you hit this, you can go faster as well and your E will deal more damage to the poisoned target. Practice on the time that this will be (3sec), so you can go out of trades without spending a lot of mana early.

This thing does wonders in the current meta. See a sivir ult in teamfight to engage? Throw it and make them suffer and laugh at them. This ability cannot be put beneath you and has a weird radius, so keep that in mind. Use this to people that engage on you defensively.

Agressively, use this before you cast your q; makes it easier to hit.

NOTE : Your E does more damage to enemies standing in this. Which means that you do NOT need to hit your q if they stay in it.

The most important ability and damage dealer in your kit. Max this first. This will also heal you when the enemy is poisoned. Be careful to not spam it too much in the early, as your mana bar will fade away very quickly.

When you last hit with this/while it's on the way, it will refund the mana costs. This will be handier than your auto attacks from the moment you make it lv 2. No need to poison minions 24/7 and waste mana.

Great ultimate for a teamfight. I mostly use this when they engage on me, because then they'll be facing towards you most of the time and you can stun instead of slow them.

The level-up is actually different from game to game. Mostly the order is just R-> E -> Q-> W though.

>>> You can also try getting a second point in your E before you level your W. This'll allow for an easy all-in at 3, and if you poked before you should be able to maybe burn a flash.

Starting Items

I start with this all the time.

Core Items

First buy this! this will make you able to start scaling immediately.

This is Cassiopeia's core, without the Archangel staff (upgrade from tear) of course. Depending on lane, decide what you need to build first.
Healers? Morello's. (Kayle, swain, vlad,...)
Melee and lot of mobility? Rylai's. This will make you stick more. (Yasuo, trynda,...)
Some of these pesky MR stackers? Void staff. DO BUILD THIS SECOND THOUGH! Never first. (any melee'er with hexdrinker, tanks like Maokai,...)

This is an example of a full build. Don't just copy, adjust to your team and enemies.
Fit in the abyssal/zhonya's depending on what you need. If you need mr and go abyssal, going for a negatron early does wonders without finishing abyssal.

Situational Items

I personally don't like the scaling, but when I buy it, it's mostly for top. I don't seem to fit with the build path, and I tend to buy my rylai's etc first.
Great for healing, together with sprit visage(top then)

Read RoA notes.

Feel like you're unstoppable? Get these and wreck even more.

You can grab this as your 3rd/4th item when your team has 2/3 infernal drakes (and when you're playing mid), but I don't like building this on cassi. Don't know why though.

Read item notes for detailed information.

The purpose of the items are to scale with your tear, and get some mana on the way as well, so you get more AP too. (Morello's give mana now, RoA too)

Grab a void when you see people stacking MR, we don't have the mpen boots anymore so this is needed. Build void staff over deathcap, because mpen is more important for you.

There can be other items that fit in, correct me on that in the comments and I'll try to explain why I don't use them (such as protobelt). To go on the example of the protobelt: I don't like the delay of the powerspike and as it's a relatively cheap item, you won't be buying it for the lategame. If you need to be more tanky, GA is the way to go.

The new rylai's is still pretty decent for cassi, because it has a reduced cost. You don't really on a lot of slows from it sinced you have your W.

With the reduction of the cost of lyandries, combo'ing this with rylai's may make it viable if you need more health and are getting chased by a lot of tanks.

VS

Ahri

Easy

Easy lane if you manage to keep the lane fine and dodge the charm. Be careful of here roams as you don't have that mobility. Ping on time and make sure she doesn't get fed elsewhere.

You should be able to just farm under turret if she pushes with her q.

VS

Akali

Hard

Very skill based matchup I think. As akali is a gapcloser with low cd's, I'd give this a hard one.

She doesn't need to be ahead to kill you as well, so just keep your lane even.

VS

Anivia

Medium

The new Q-speed is insane on Anivia.

The wall is also annoying when you're getting ganked as you have no mobility.

Skill matchup I'd say. Even though you own her after you land a q... her wall can stop you from going further.

Try taking cleanse when this matchup is hard.

VS

Annie

Medium

She can be extremely annoying with her burst, all you need to do is keep her from bursting. A abyssal sceptre might help here.

Most annie's (I'm an annie main myself so I know this, don't use this against me please :( ) will run to you at the 3rd stack of their passive, and then q-e which will make you stunned. Be careful of that!

Try going in when she just used her stun on minions to farm.

VS

Aurelion Sol

Medium

Gets annoying but just stun him when he's going to stun you. you can outrun him and stay out of his .

Care for his roam potential, which you don't have compared to his speed.

VS

Azir

Medium

Skill matchup imo. use your to stop him from escaping with his soldiers.

You're both dps'ers, but he is longer range. The advantage in teamfights: you can sustain and are tankier, he isn't.

VS

Brand

Medium

Fairly easy matchup but I put it on medium to be safe.

As long as you can dodge his w, he won't be able to proc his passive quickly.

He's immobile, so putting a on him in teamfights will make him extremely vulnerable.

VS

Cassiopeia

Hard

Can we nerf this snake already? Holy.

VS

Ekko

Hard

One of the gapclosers I'm having trouble against. If you his gapclose with his , he can just use the ultimate freely after he went in. Having an early archangel staff might help baiting him into your team.

VS

Fizz

Hard

Crazy snowball potential on his side. You need to scale, and he just needs some cdr to one-shot some people. Exhaust will help, but just stay safe until you can fight him decently.

Tip: he can't use while he stands in your

VS

Galio

Medium

The MR-stacking ******. Get morello's against his healing but don't overestimate yourself. A skilled galio will beat you if you can't pressure enough.

VS

Irelia

Hard

Gap-closers are annoying vs Cassi.

VS

Karma

Medium

Fun matchup and you should be able to win it after your 2-3 items.

Extremely satisfying to miasma a whole e-ulted team though :D

VS

Karthus

Medium

His wall can be very annoying.

Having barrier here to block his ult/rushing archangel is a good choice.

Skill matchup in lane, though. Both heavy reliant on the skillshots to do damage.

VS

Kassadin

Medium

Annoying gapcloser. Should be fine if you are able to pressure him in laning phase. He's melee, abuse that pre-6. Post 6, be careful of him going in on you and try to predict his movements. Use a in front of him when he tries to ult on u.

VS

Kayle

Medium

Annoying imo. Underrated champ and can fuck you up extremely if you put all your dps on him when he's ulted.

VS

Kennen

Medium

The new protobelt kennen is annoying as you don't have that mobility. Having things like a Janna in your team can help you here.

VS

LeBlanc

Medium

Skill matchup.

Try putting a on the place where she distorted to let her stay next to you. That way you can aim the on the place she's on atm, and still keep her poisoned when she backs off on your miasma.

Don't try to fight her though, as she has more damage. Try pushing her under turret :)

An early negatron (after ur tear) might help.

VS

Lissandra

Medium

Isn't really in the meta atm so I don't know how skilled Liss players do vs cass.

Bringing cleanse against this matchup will make it a lot easier. You don't need the exhaust against her. Miasma her when she tries using her e.

VS

Lux

Easy

Easy if you know how to play vs zone mages.

Dodge her Q and you're fine, when she ults in lane (close to you), you can ult her to prevent the damage if you're on time.

Immobile mage, so after her root she's pretty fucked if you're able to lock her down.

VS

Malphite

Medium

Can one shot you post 6 if he builds early ap.

If you have a retard that builds his recommended path vs you (sunfire), you're absolutely fine and you can stomp him when he doesn't have ult.

VS

Malzahar

Medium

VS

Maokai

Hard

Annoying for you because he heals off your spams and he is tanky + gapcloses.

Get early void staff and kite vs him.

VS

Morgana

Easy

Her spell shield won't do a lot vs your sustained damage.

Be careful of her binding though, it does hurt with her pool.

VS

Orianna

Medium

>> Copied from my reddit post in cass mains reddit, as I didn't take the time to explain this matchup before.

I mostly just buy a negatron cloak after my tear to compensate with her damage. You can also try going in (in early laning phase) after she used q and/or w, so she can't slow you while giving her a harder trade.Orianna is mostly a skill-based matchup though, and landing an ultimate on her is hard since she doesn't need to face your way to damage u. Try using your ultimate agressively when she's walking in for farm/on her way to poke you. She's also quite immobile, so just flashing her ult will let her be an easy target if you can miasma her escape route.Going giant's belt for your rylai's first (instead of large rod first for example) scales a lot with the abyssal you can build, so if you're behind try getting that, as being tankier will help you sustain up after her poke.

VS

Ryze

Easy

Have fun in this matchup! He's a close range mage that needs to be in your face to do damage, so you can ult and stun him when he's going in.

Put a miasma on him when he ults for extra lulz and watch him cry. (it stops the tp.)

VS

Syndra

Hard

Should be a skill matchup, but I hate playing against Syndra.

VS

Taliyah

Medium

Be careful of her combo.

If you're going in on her and she still has it, move to right and left while running to her to juke . This will make you able to just keep running at her

VS

Talon

Medium

Stay safe in lane and outscale him.

VS

Twisted Fate

Easy

Easy to kill after he used his .

Care for his roams though.

TIP! You can cancel his TP/ult with your .

VS

Veigar

Medium

Is very annoying.

A skilled Veigar will just your path when you land a poison and want to do damage.

VS

Vel'Koz

Hard

Hard if he's as skilled as you. One E and a skilled Vel'Koz will one shot you :)

VS

Viktor

Medium

Try to outfarm him and after that it will be a skill matchup I suppose. is annoying when you've poisoned him and trying to follow.

VS

Vladimir

Hard

He can pool away when you're ready to do some serious damage, very annoying.

Also don't think that because he's a tank, he can't do damage. Rito reworks mates.

VS

Xerath

Medium

VS

Yasuo

Easy

Easy lane if you can predict his movement. on yourself when you think he's going on u. Exhaust him when he ults you, and just care for his wall in teamfights.

VS

Zed

Medium

VS

Zilean

Medium

He can predict-place the bombs where you'll be walking if you go in on him so just try to read him.

Champion

Difficulty

Notes

Ahri

Easy lane if you manage to keep the lane fine and dodge the charm. Be careful of here roams as you don't have that mobility. Ping on time and make sure she doesn't get fed elsewhere.

You should be able to just farm under turret if she pushes with her q.

Akali

Very skill based matchup I think. As akali is a gapcloser with low cd's, I'd give this a hard one.

She doesn't need to be ahead to kill you as well, so just keep your lane even.

Anivia

The new Q-speed is insane on Anivia.

The wall is also annoying when you're getting ganked as you have no mobility.

Skill matchup I'd say. Even though you own her after you land a q... her wall can stop you from going further.

Try taking cleanse when this matchup is hard.

Annie

She can be extremely annoying with her burst, all you need to do is keep her from bursting. A abyssal sceptre might help here.

Most annie's (I'm an annie main myself so I know this, don't use this against me please :( ) will run to you at the 3rd stack of their passive, and then q-e which will make you stunned. Be careful of that!

Try going in when she just used her stun on minions to farm.

Aurelion Sol

Gets annoying but just stun him when he's going to stun you. you can outrun him and stay out of his .

Care for his roam potential, which you don't have compared to his speed.

Azir

Skill matchup imo. use your to stop him from escaping with his soldiers.

You're both dps'ers, but he is longer range. The advantage in teamfights: you can sustain and are tankier, he isn't.

Brand

Fairly easy matchup but I put it on medium to be safe.

As long as you can dodge his w, he won't be able to proc his passive quickly.

He's immobile, so putting a on him in teamfights will make him extremely vulnerable.

Cassiopeia

Can we nerf this snake already? Holy.

Ekko

One of the gapclosers I'm having trouble against. If you his gapclose with his , he can just use the ultimate freely after he went in. Having an early archangel staff might help baiting him into your team.

Fizz

Crazy snowball potential on his side. You need to scale, and he just needs some cdr to one-shot some people. Exhaust will help, but just stay safe until you can fight him decently.

Tip: he can't use while he stands in your

Galio

The MR-stacking ******. Get morello's against his healing but don't overestimate yourself. A skilled galio will beat you if you can't pressure enough.

Irelia

Gap-closers are annoying vs Cassi.

Karma

Fun matchup and you should be able to win it after your 2-3 items.

Extremely satisfying to miasma a whole e-ulted team though :D

Karthus

His wall can be very annoying.

Having barrier here to block his ult/rushing archangel is a good choice.

Skill matchup in lane, though. Both heavy reliant on the skillshots to do damage.

Kassadin

Annoying gapcloser. Should be fine if you are able to pressure him in laning phase. He's melee, abuse that pre-6. Post 6, be careful of him going in on you and try to predict his movements. Use a in front of him when he tries to ult on u.

Kayle

Annoying imo. Underrated champ and can fuck you up extremely if you put all your dps on him when he's ulted.

Kennen

The new protobelt kennen is annoying as you don't have that mobility. Having things like a Janna in your team can help you here.

LeBlanc

Skill matchup.

Try putting a on the place where she distorted to let her stay next to you. That way you can aim the on the place she's on atm, and still keep her poisoned when she backs off on your miasma.

Don't try to fight her though, as she has more damage. Try pushing her under turret :)

An early negatron (after ur tear) might help.

Lissandra

Isn't really in the meta atm so I don't know how skilled Liss players do vs cass.

Bringing cleanse against this matchup will make it a lot easier. You don't need the exhaust against her. Miasma her when she tries using her e.

Lux

Easy if you know how to play vs zone mages.

Dodge her Q and you're fine, when she ults in lane (close to you), you can ult her to prevent the damage if you're on time.

Immobile mage, so after her root she's pretty fucked if you're able to lock her down.

Malphite

Can one shot you post 6 if he builds early ap.

If you have a retard that builds his recommended path vs you (sunfire), you're absolutely fine and you can stomp him when he doesn't have ult.

Malzahar

Maokai

Annoying for you because he heals off your spams and he is tanky + gapcloses.

Get early void staff and kite vs him.

Morgana

Her spell shield won't do a lot vs your sustained damage.

Be careful of her binding though, it does hurt with her pool.

Orianna

>> Copied from my reddit post in cass mains reddit, as I didn't take the time to explain this matchup before.

I mostly just buy a negatron cloak after my tear to compensate with her damage. You can also try going in (in early laning phase) after she used q and/or w, so she can't slow you while giving her a harder trade.Orianna is mostly a skill-based matchup though, and landing an ultimate on her is hard since she doesn't need to face your way to damage u. Try using your ultimate agressively when she's walking in for farm/on her way to poke you. She's also quite immobile, so just flashing her ult will let her be an easy target if you can miasma her escape route.Going giant's belt for your rylai's first (instead of large rod first for example) scales a lot with the abyssal you can build, so if you're behind try getting that, as being tankier will help you sustain up after her poke.

Ryze

Have fun in this matchup! He's a close range mage that needs to be in your face to do damage, so you can ult and stun him when he's going in.

Put a miasma on him when he ults for extra lulz and watch him cry. (it stops the tp.)

Syndra

Should be a skill matchup, but I hate playing against Syndra.

Taliyah

Be careful of her combo.

If you're going in on her and she still has it, move to right and left while running to her to juke . This will make you able to just keep running at her

Talon

Stay safe in lane and outscale him.

Twisted Fate

Easy to kill after he used his .

Care for his roams though.

TIP! You can cancel his TP/ult with your .

Veigar

Is very annoying.

A skilled Veigar will just your path when you land a poison and want to do damage.

Vel'Koz

Hard if he's as skilled as you. One E and a skilled Vel'Koz will one shot you :)

Viktor

Try to outfarm him and after that it will be a skill matchup I suppose. is annoying when you've poisoned him and trying to follow.

Vladimir

He can pool away when you're ready to do some serious damage, very annoying.

Also don't think that because he's a tank, he can't do damage. Rito reworks mates.

Xerath

Yasuo

Easy lane if you can predict his movement. on yourself when you think he's going on u. Exhaust him when he ults you, and just care for his wall in teamfights.

Zed

Zilean

He can predict-place the bombs where you'll be walking if you go in on him so just try to read him.

Check out my plays.tv section to see more kiting vids/outplays with cassi. Will post frequently ^^

Kiting with the updated cassiopeia feels very weird. It's different than any other character since your movement direction doesn't change where you have clicked after you cast an ability. This makes it easy to run to an enemy, but kiting takes some practice to get used to the difference.

An example of kiting melee champs:

It's only a gif, sorry for that. This is an example of how to ult and easily hit it (let them engage).

Did some things wrong here as well though, such as keeping melee distance near kha to kill lucian.